8 tips to save your company both time and money
Your company’s computer network is like a racecar. If the engine is well-tuned, the car will run fast. If it’s poorly maintained, you may not even cross the finish line.
The key is a good return on your IT dollars. Ultimately, you want your network to be transparent to your team. The network, in other words, should facilitate your employees’ work – not impede it.
Here’s what you can do to get more horsepower from what you’ve got:
Nuke it. Spyware, viruses and all that other stuff that’s accumulated over the years (months?) will bog down your computers. The good news is you don’t have the replace the old computers. Many times just reinstalling the operating system will restore the computer to the speediness of a new one. Nuking your PC will also remove any bugs on the hard drive. Note: Backup your data before reinstalling (reformatting) your machine.
Score it. Have a computer expert give your network a report card. We offer this service for free. We evaluate everything from network efficiency to data security. By having this kind of comprehensive assessment done, you get a good snapshot of the overall health of your systems and as a result can make smarter decisions about upgrades.
Boost it. Networks are often buggy and sluggish because they were setup improperly. For example, if data is being accessed inefficiently, everyone on the network will feel the impact. Have your IT guru take a look at your infrastructure. Ask her, “How would you setup this network if it were yours?” You may gain some invaluable insight into how do things better. Also, if your internet connections is slow as molasses, ask your high speed internet provider to bump up the bandwidth. The next level up may offer terrific bang for the buck.
Break it. One of the services we provide is called ‘ping testing.’ Just like yor test your fire alarm system from time to time to ensure it’s working well, companies should test their network security to ensure the job is getting done. One story I love to tell is about a bank here in Honolulu. They hired us to test their security measures. We breached their network by sprinkling a few USB drives outside their door the following morning before work. The first employee to arrive that morning did what most people would do: He picked up the drive, walked over to his computer, and plugged it in. Curiosity killed the cat. We were inside their network within 15 minutes! The message here is: Train your employees. Turn them into a kind of neighborhood watch. Unacceptable computer behavior can have some pretty significant fallout.
Dump it. Most companies do NOT have a computer-use policy. Moreover, no planning is given to how resources should be allocated. When you create a garden, you plant carrots here and cabbage there. That’s good planning. For networks, you should decide who can install what. Don’t let your garden become a mishmash of stuff installed on whim. Unnecessary software on your computers can lead to hiccups, holdups, data loss and security breaches.
Secure it. Did you know you can block access to Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and all those other distracting sites? You can even decide who has the rights to install new software on a computer. You may have adopted strong security measures and done a great job of tuning up your systems, but all it takes is one reckless person to ruin it all. Educate your team on what’s acceptable behavior, establish policies and procedures, and use software to keep everything pointed in the right direction.
Map it. You can log into your bank accounts and see exactly how much money you have on hand. In the same way, you should be able to look at a sheet of paper and see what systems you have in the office. The network map should include a detailed list of hardware and software, a schematic diagram of the layout, and the critical passwords. Keep this info confidential and store it in a fire retardant safe. It will become very handy when tech needs to swoop in and fix a mission critical issue. An updated network map means less downtime for you and your employees.
Outsource it. I am like you. If something can be done in-house, I prefer to do it in-house. At some point, the proper care and feeding of your computers requires a professional. It’s true a good part of this care can be done by a tech-savvy employee on your team. However, there are number of items that require real experience. Outsource the more sophisticated stuff to qualified persons. You want to be sure it gets done right the first time.
